Tobique First Nation, NB July 2016 Wulustuk Times Wulustuk - Indigenous name for St John River This publication produced monthly at Tobique, NB, Canada E7H 5K3 pjpaul494 (at) gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR July 2016 From Peace and Friendship to Swindled Victims (Part 2 of 4) THUNDERBEINGS DEAN’S DEN... Birds… A trilogy Wulustuk Times: Each month we gather and publish the latest, most relevant native information for our readers. Proceeding with this concept we feel that a well informed person is better able to see, relate with and assess a situation more accurately when equipped with right data. Our aim is to provide you with the precise tools and information possible. From Peace and Friendship to Swindled Victims (Part 2 of 4) Part 2 - Written Treaties and Deeds In Part 1, I examined traditional oral agreements of the First Nations with the French and showed how they have been overlooked by the English, and how assimilation and residential schools have erased them from oral tradition. Now I will examine the written treaties with the English, selecting some which are historically more noteworthy for the "St. Johns Indians" as they were identified in treaties. Today they are generally called Maliseets by their language, and Wolastoqiyik by their river territory, the Wolastoq or W?last?kw. The wars between England and France over territory here in New England and New France continued to alternate as one defeated the other for nearly a century. The battles were not only being fought here in North America but also in Europe, the origin of all these conflicts. The First Nations in this land had their traditional enemies to confront with before the Europeans came, and now their land was becoming a battleground for overseas foreigners. The English would defeat the French and seize regions of New France, then after more battles some or all of it would be returned to the French. Nobody can explain how these foreign nations came to claim this land in the first place except for the controversial "doctrine of discovery" that was used for centuries to justify seizing Indigenous lands and subjugating the peoples. The King being a Christian monarch, had authority over a continent of "heathen peoples." Treaties involving land possession such as the Treaty of Utretch (signed in the Netherlands) were being made between the French and English. Initially in North America, agreements with the First Nations did not involve land, but were about peace, friendship and trading. Later when the English arrived to establish colonies, they introduced written "deeds" for buying and selling land, but as a precursor to this they employed "deeds of submission" to the English Monarch for protection of the Indian Nations and their lands. This was a subtle way of taking over their lands in a seemingly peaceful and trustworthy manner. The French never did this. The French had oral agreements for peace, friendship and trading. The English insisted on making legal "paper" agreements, and of course, applying the rules of their complex legal system, but these First Nations could not read nor write let alone understand the legal jargon. All negotiations and agreements were written by the English and interpreted and translated for the various First Nations, often by John Gyles. Gyles was the nine year old English boy who was taken captive in Pemaquid, Maine (today Bristol) by Chief Madockawando's war party. Young Gyles was taken to Meductic on the St. John River where he lived as a captive slave with the "St. Johns Indians" for six years from 1689 to 1695. Then, as common practice, he was sold to a French family with whom he lived until after the peace of Ryswick (Sept 20, 1697), at which time he was returned to the English in 1698 at age eighteen. His experience with Maliseet, Mi'kmaw and French dialects made young Gyles of great value to the English authorities as an interpreter. The English treaty process with the "heathen" Eastern Indian Nations (both Wabanaki and Wampanoag) was a one sided strategy using only the laws and procedures of the English Crown since they claimed they ruled all this land, their "dominion." The Eastern Indians depended completely on interpreters to help them understand the legalese in the conferences and treaties. This put them at a great disadvantage, especially since many of the legal terms and concepts did not exist in their languages. In the 1940s Tappan Adney of Upper Woodstock, New Brunswick started blowing the dust off the old treaties hidden away in archives and began taking a close look at them. The land issues, loss of their language and culture, and changes to the Indian Act became his sole passion in life, his raison d'etre, until his death in 1950. Adney wrote about the Maliseets and their treaties: "…how, as a sovereign people in the terms of the treaties, they merely gave the English permission to settle and trade in a country recognized as theirs, and how now it would seem to be the white man who gives the Indian permission to live here! The question of who owned New Brunswick was merely one between the English and the French [with which] the Indian had no concern." He started the ball rolling, researching treaties, Maliseet natural history and language, lobbying politicians, submitting briefs to Indian Affairs in Ottawa, fighting for aboriginal rights, and pushing for specific changes to the Indian Act. In using the 1725 treaty in a court case, Adney was enraged when it was not allowed to be presented because the treaty had been made with the "St. John River Indian Tribe" and a group of that name no longer existed. Instead there were six Maliseet bands and chiefs on six reserves, but no unified tribe with one grand chief. So he went to great lengths to get the chiefs of the six Maliseet "bands" to unite and reconstitute the "St. John River Indian Tribe - Wulastooks" so that the old treaty could become valid again. Chief William Saulis of Tobique First Nation and Peter Paul of Woodstock First Nation were two of his closest advisors and confidants. Because of Adney's passion and his relentless determination, today the treaties are being scrutinized closely as aboriginal title to the First Nations' traditional lands are being challenged in courts as high as the Supreme Court of Canada. Keep in mind as you read the following treaty examples that the Eastern Indians didn't understand the concept of purchasing or owning the land. Under their system an area of land was shared, never "owned" by one person or family. If that family moved to a new location, then another person or family could freely occupy the vacated spot. A sale of land by them to the English was regarded to be a type of rent or lease for the English outsiders to have permission to dwell there and trade with them, and perhaps to build a truck house (trading post) near them. They expected they could get paid this occupancy fee every time someone new wanted to use their land. Land could not be sold to someone permanently. It was a gift from the creator they reasoned. It could be shared but not sold. Deeds with boundary descriptions of land for one person or one family were foreign to them. The English were aware of this so they started with deeds of submission for protection, which the Indians would more readily accept. In later treaties they slipped land related phraseology more clearly into the wording. Also keep in mind that there were no "reserved lands" during the time of these early treaties. The Eastern Indians lived and travelled wherever they wanted in their territory. This was still "their" land. Reserves came along much later as a new strategy of the English in 1763 by means of the Royal Proclamation. In 1765 one of the first reserves in Canada to be granted to a First Nation was a grant to the "St. Johns Indians" of three separate lots of land at Eqpahak along the St. John River (Wulustuk Times, March 2013) If the English could get the Eastern Indians to acknowledge the sovereignty of the King of England, or if they would swear allegiance to the English King, then they would become subjects of the Crown and be bound by Crown laws in regards to buying, occupying, and selling land. Using Deeds of Submission to the King by the Indians, for protection of themselves and their lands, was a wily scheme by the English for getting their foot in the door (or wigwam) for justifying land claims in future treaties. 1676 Treaty at Boston with Chief Mugg, an Unsuccessful Treaty The Treaty at Boston with Chief Megunnaway (aka Mugg or Mog) in 1676 was concluded at the end of King Philip's war, a war that broke out in southern New England in June of 1675. King Philip was the English name given to Metacomet or Metacom, a Pokanoket Chief. Pokanokets were one group of over sixty Wampanoag Nations. Wampanoag means "Easterners" or "People of the Dawn" and they and the Abenaki (including Maliseets) would often join together in wars. Metacomet felt that he was a king in his own right and should not be subjected to another king, the English King, who had never been to this land. Furthermore the English were trespassing on his people's hunting grounds. Rumors spread that he was holding council with his warriors, preparing for war. The Plymouth Puritans summoned him to court. He went, but he brought his warriors with him and they filled the town meeting house.